Popteen・ポップティーン July 2012

Popteen is a monthly fashion magazine published by Kadokawa Haruki Corporation in Japan. It is now one of Asia’s top fashion magazines, also distributed to Taiwan, Thailand and recently, the United States as well (in English of course). It features gyaru fashion, especially trends amongst high school students.

The magazine is mainly known for its gyaru icons, such as Ayumi Hamasaki, previously Tsubasa Masuwaka (graduated 2007 after marrying model Naoki Umeda), and now Funayama Kumiko (Kumicky♪).

Other artists who have appeared on the cover include Kumi Koda, Namie Amuro, Avril Lavigne, Britney Spears, Fergie and Gwen Stefani.

The magazine is well known for ‘doku-moderu’ (読者モデル), where readers have the opportunity to become models in the magazine through Popteen’s model search each year.

See the top right corner? That’s right, Big Bang was featured in this issue of Popteen!

Tokyo Girls Collection Spring/Summer 2012・東京ガールズコレクション

Tokyo Girls Collection is the biggest and most famous fashion event in Japan that showcases the season’s fashionable street wears with domestic brands, combined and jam packed with concerts from popular music groups. It is the first and original fashion and music event that started and is held twice a year, said to be one of the most influential events in Asian countries. The most recent TCG event, 2012 Spring/Summer edition drew over 250, 000 excited fashionistas to Yokohama Area in early March. Attending this event is one of the best ways to keep in line with the latest seasonal street fashion trends in Japan.

Unfortunately, if you do not have the liberty to hitch a plane and fly to Japan this moment, the second best thing to do is look at second-hand photos on the internet. (i.e. the sad and lonely me) Perhaps one day I will join the mass of 250k excited teenage girls (and a few guys) in Tokyo but for now I am satisfied with gazing at this dream from afar…

If you do decide to attend Tokyo Girls Collection, make sure you order tickets on the dot because the event is so popular that tickets usually sell out within hours.What I like about the event is that, for once, it showcases fashion styles that you CAN wear on the street. Normally, other fashion shows will just leave me speechless…

Without further ado, I will share with you my top ten styles that were showcased this year:

Tokyo Girls Collection #1 Special Collection (doesn’t count as a brand but nevermind)